Water, Land and People - Goulburn Broken Catchment ...

Industries supervision in April. All Drought Employment
Program reporting required by the Goulburn Broken
Catchment Management Authority (GB CMA) was
completed and submitted.
Environmental assessments
The staff were involved in other projects across
the Surface Water Management Programs and the
Groundwater and Salt Management Program.
Surface Water Management Program
Staff were involved in re-addressing the Murray Valley 11
Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation
Act (EPBC) Referral issue. There were also some
alignment inspections completed along Murray Valley
Drain 11.
For the Stanhope Depression surface water management
system, the aquatic vegetation for a constructed wetland
was reviewed.
The Native Vegetation Removal exemptions for the
Deakin 16 P Surface Water Management Systems were
revised.
Environmental Program staff were involved in negotiations
for the retention of a melaleuca planting adjacent to the
Mosquito 8/25P community surface water management
system.
Final alignment inspections were completed for the
Muckatah 4P community surface water management
system. A case study for “Boring Under Native Vegetation”
policy was developed after construction of the Muckatah
4P community surface water management system, as this
was the first time the policy had been used to bore under
trees along a community surface water management
system alignment.
High Value Environmental Features
This project was conducted in collaboration with
Goulburn-Murray Water and involved an assessment
of high value environmental features in the Shepparton
Irrigation Region and prioritising those threatened
by groundwater. A trial pump site was established at
the Millewa Nature Conservation Reserve. This year
soil testing and site investigations were completed for
groundwater pump proposals at two sites, Millewa
Reserve and Kanyapella Basin. This project will continue
into 2009-2010.
Modernisation
Staff assisted the Northern Victoria Irrigation Renewal
Project in their works by undertaking assessments on
priority wetlands assessment across the Shepparton
Irrigation Region. This included the Environmental
Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act reports for
the Shepparton Irrigation Area and Future Flow.
Development and implementation of
management plans for wetland and terrestrial
features
The design and development of Environmental
Management Plans for priority wetland and terrestrial
sites in the Shepparton Irrigation Region is an
important value-adding tool to support improved
water management. Environmental Management Plans
are developed with input and strong collaborative
processes across multiple agencies. Key partners are the
Department of Primary Industries (leading development
of the plans), the Department of Sustainability and
Environment, Goulburn-Murray Water, Parks Victoria, GB
CMA and community groups. These plans provide the
managing authority and community groups with a clear
view of what the needs and priorities are of each site.
The development and sign-off of Environmental
Management Plans allows the GB CMA and the
Shepparton Irrigation Region Implementation Committee
to support provision of Environmental Water Allocations.
An Environmental Water Allocation of 500ML was
secured for Reedy Swamp, with delivery of the water
starting in April 2008. The Environment Program staff have
been using acoustic monitoring to ascertain what species
of fauna are using the wetland as a refuge given the severe
dry conditions across the Shepparton Irrigation Region.
Acoustic monitoring will continue at Reedy Swamp until
the water evaporates. The results of this monitoring
will be submitted to the Shepparton Irrigation Region
Implementation Committee in 2009-2010.
To further investigate Environmental Water Allocations
for the wetlands in the Shepparton Irrigation Region, Jo
attended a planning day with Paul O’Connor and Rolf
Weber (Department of Sustainability and Environment),
Keith Ward, Simon Casanelia and Carl Walters (GB CMA)
to discuss Environmental Water Allocation delivery
options to One Tree, Two Tree, Wallenjoe and Mansfield
Swamps. They also visited Doctors Swamp and Stockyard
Plain to look at water delivery options for the 2009–2010
Environmental Water Allocations.
ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS
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